Device for feeding and sorting documents

ABSTRACT

This device includes a station for separating documents from a stack, one by one, with the platform upon which the stack rests being automatically movable so that the top of the stack remains next to the separating mechanism. The device further includes two collecting platforms which are automatically movable so that the top of the collected stack remains level with the collecting mechanism. The collecting mechanism may be positioned to accommodate different length documents and the positioning controls the speed at which the documents are removed by the separating station.

United States Patent r191 Bazzarone et al.

[ DEVICE FOR FEEDING AND SORTING DOCUMENTS [75] Inventors: FedeleBazzarone,Caluso; Dario Bisone, Montalto Dora, both of Italy [73]Assignee: Ing. C. Olivetti &-C. S.p.A., Turin,

Italy [22] Filed: June 14, 1972 [21] Appl. No.: 262,804

[52] US. Cl. 271/4, 271/34, 271/62 R, Y 271/88 [51] Int. Cl 1365b 1/18,B65h 3/04, B65h 31/10 [58] Field of Search 271/4, 6, 34, 35,

[56] References Cited UNITED STATES PATENTS 3,025,051 3/1962 David etal. 271/4 1 July 31,1973

3,488,048 1/1970 Dykaar et al. 271/10 3,682,473 8/1972 Kuyt 271/87Primary Examiner-Even C. Blunk Assistant Examiner-Bruce I'I. Stoner, Jr.AttorneyKevin McMahon et al.

[ 5 7 ABSTRACT This device includes a station for separating documentsfrom a stack, one by one, with the platform upon which the stack restsbeing automatically movable so that the top of the stack remains next tothe separating mechanism. Thedevice further includes two collectingplatforms which are automatically movable so that the top of thecollected stack remains level with the collecting mechanism. Thecollecting mechanism may. be positioned to accommodate different lengthdocuments and the positioning controls the speed at which the documentsare removed by the separatingstation.

6 Claims, 5 Drawing Figures PATENTEDJUL3 1 m5 SHEET 1 OF 4 PATENTE U m3.1 ma

' SHEET 3 [IF 4 Pmmm m 3,749.395

SHEET i 0F 4 BACKGROUND AND SUMMARY OF THE INVENTION The subject matterof this invention relates to reading and sorting devices for flexibledocuments such as bank checks. More particularly, this invention relatesto improvements in the mechanism for removing documents from a stack andfor placing these documents into two other stacks.

One of the main problems in reading machines is the automatic removingof the documents from a stack and sending them toward the readingmechanism. According to this invention, the documents, which are stackedon a platform, are brought into contact with a moving belt which stripsthem from the stack by means of a motor which moves the platform towardthe belt. The platform continues to move toward the belt until thepressure of the documents against the belt overcomes the force exertedby a spring, at which time a switch is activated to stop the. motor andthe platform movement. As the documents continue to be stripped, thepressure against the belt will be relaxed until the motor is startedagain. By this means, the top document on the platform will always bekept next to the stripping belt, no matter how thick the stack happensto be.

According to another aspect of the invention, the documents after havingbeen read, are stacked on platforms which are automatically controlledso that, the top of the'stack is always next to the stacking controlmechanism; this mechanism includes a flat spring for damping thehorizontal velocity of the documents and a moving belt which pulls eachdocument against the flat spring. As the stack of documents growsthicker, the control mechanism lifts until a switch is triggered; theswitch causes the platform to lower, thereby causing'the controlmechanism to lower and stop the lower- 1 ing of the platform. 1

According to a third aspectof this invention after the documents havepassed the reader and before they are stacked,- the documents passbarrel shaped rollers which curve them so that they will be stiffened,thereby insuring proper stacking.

Also disclosed is a device which controls the positioning of thestacking mechanism so that it can accommodate documents of variouslengths. This device not only positions the stacking mechanism but alsocontrols the speed of the motor which strips documents from the incomingpile; by this means, the distance between documents as they pass throughthe machine can be kept constant, without regard to the length ofindividual documents. i 1

BRIEF DESCRIPTION OF THE DRAWINGS FIG. 1 is a front view of loading,separating and ac- DESCRIPTION OF THE PREFERRED EMBODIMENT Withreference to the accompanying drawings, the apparatus according to theinvention includes a vertical supporting plate 15 (FIG. 1) which carriesa loading station 10 which includes a stack of documents 11, aseparating device 12, an accelerating and aligning device 13 (FIGS. 1and 2), a reading station 14 (FIG. 2) and a receiving unit 16 (FIGS. 3and 4).

The loading station 10 (FIG. 1) includes a vertically movable loadingplatform 18 which supports documents 11. The platform 18 is moved in avertical direction by means of a belt 24 which is stretched between twopulleys 26 and 27; arm 25 cooperates with groove 21 which is located infront plate 22 and in the base plate 15. Belt 24 is circulated by feedmotor 23. The front plate 22 and the side plate 9 serve as verticalreference planes for the documents 11 carried by loading platform 18.

Located in recess 28 of the platform 18 is a light source 29 whichco-operates with photoelectric cell 30 to provide an indication as towhether or not documents are on the loading station 10.

The movable platform 18 carries a scale 31 by means of which theoperator can read the length of the documents 1].

Located on the upper portion of the loading station 10 is a feed device12' which includes a separating roller 32', made of a pliant (orrubber-like) material and provided pe'ripherically with a plurality ofnotches 33; the roller is driven by motor 34 which is housed behind thesupport plate 15. The roller 32 drags a stripping belt 36 which isstretched between pulleys 37 and 38; pulley 37 is integral and coaxialwith the roller 32 and covers the middle portion of roller 32.

Located opposite to roller 32is an ejecting roller 51 which rotatesat al'owerrate and in the opposite direction to that of separating roller32; the roller '51 is I driven by thesame motor 34 which drives roller32.

I be discussed hereinafter.

' base plate (FIGS. 1 and 2).

celerating devices and a partial view of the aligning device constructedaccording to the principles of this invention;

FIG. 2 is a front view of the reading device and a partial front view ofthe aligning device;

FIG. 3 is a partial front viewof the sorting and receiving devices inthe apparatus according to the invention;

FIG. 4 is a partial front view of the sorting and receiv' ing devices;

FIG. 5 shows the arrangement of the first four figures.

Fulcrumed on the same pivot 41 which carries the I pulley 38 is a lever39 having roller'42 at one end thereof; the roller 42 holds 'belt 36tight by pushing on its internal surface due to the thrust of spring 43which is-stretched between the other end of the lever 39 andafixedPint46.

-There is anotherlever 47 located behind base plate 15 which lever isidentical'to lever 39; the lever 47, as it lifts, will contactmicroswitch'49. This operation will After a document 1 l is separatedfrom the stack by the device 10, it is shifted'into accelerating andaligning path-48, which path is defined by the base plate 15 and a pairof guides 52 and 53 fixed perpendicularly to said Two-acceleratingrollers 60 and (FIGS. 1 and 2) are located at the initial and finalportion of the accelerating and aligning path 48; the rollers actthrough suitable slots formed in the guide 53. There are otheraccelerating and aligning rollers 54 which are located along theintermediate portion of path 48; these latter rollers are assembled onthe base plate 15 with theiraxes being parallel to the accelerating path48 but are inclined with respect to the plane of the base plate 15. Thisinclination imparts a component of thrust to the documents toward thebase plate 15; the plate'therefore serves as a vertical reference planefor aligning the documents.

The rollers 60 and 70 alter the velocity of the documents from thestripping rate to the desired feed rate of the reading station.

The rollers 54 are driven by driving belt 57 which passes around thepulleys 56 which are assembled coaxially with said rollers 54 on theread side of the base plate the motion is imparted to the belt by a feedmotor 58 through suitable intermediate idle means. This same motor 58also imparts motion to the accelerating rollers 60 and 70.

Counter rollers 59 are located in opposition to the rollers 54 and pushagainst the rollers 54 by means of flat spring 61 (FIG. 2).

After the documents leave accelerating and aligning device 13, they arefed toward the reading station 14 by drum 62. Drum 62, which is drivenby motor 58, is coupled to belt 63 which passes along an arc of saiddrum; the belt 63 is held in tension by a tension roller 64 which actsby means of a lever urged by a spring 66.

Magnetic read-write heads 67 and 68 are located so as to scan thedocuments as they pass between drum 62 and belt 63.

Two parallel plates 69 and 71 (FIGS. 2,3 and 4) are locatedperpendicular to the base plate 15 and define the path of the documents1 1 from the accelerating and aligning device 13, through the readingstation 14, and into the receiving unit 16.

Located at the input of the receiving unit 16 is a movable deflector 72which can be caused to rotate about shaft 73; depending upon theposition of deflector 72, documents will be deflected toward one of thereceiving pockets 74 and 76.

Two collecting pockets are provided so that sorting can be carried out;for example, documents confirmed as valid by the reading station may becollected at 74 and invalid documents may pass to 76.

The receiving pocket 74 (FIG. 3) includes collecting platform 77 whichis slidable vertically along shaft 78. Shaft 78 is behind the plate 15and the position of platform 77 along shaft 78 is controlled bybi-direction motor 79. The motor controls belt 81 to which collectingplatform 77 is rigidly connected. I

Pocket 74 includes a collecting carriage 82 which insures the correctstacking of the documents by means of a rigid positioning arm 88 whichserves as a horizontal end-of-travel stop for the documents which aredeflected into the pocket 74. The carriage 82 includes a rocking arm 83carrying two pulleys 84 and 86 on its ends; the pulleys carrycontinuously circulating belt 87 which draws each incoming documentfirmly against path limitator 88. The stop surface of the positioningarm 88 carries a flat damping spring 85 which deadens the horizontaltravel of the documents when they strike the stop member 88. The arm 83is fulcrumed on pin 89 of pulley 86 and can rock freely between twopositions which are defined by the positions of the two controlmicroswitches 93 and 94. A lug 92 of the arm 83 makes contact with oneor the other of the switches depending on the position of the arm 83 soas to energize or de-energize the motor 79; this operation will beexplained hereinafter in detail.

It is possible to manually adjust the longitudinal dimension of thereceiving pocket 74 in accordance with the length of the documentsprocessed by virtue of the fact that the collecting carriage 82 isdisplaceable along a guiding slot 91 which is provided in the base plate15.

The documents are made more rigid before being collected by bending themalong their middle portions. In order to accomplish this, two, taperedor barrel shaped rollers 96 and 97 curve the documents as they pass.Since the documents are bent with their outer edges higher than theirmiddle portion, they will not sag before they reach the end of travelstop 88. A spoon shaped plate 98, which is located immediately after theroller 97, insures that the document will remain curved for sufficienttime.

A spool 101 carries a band 99 which has one end anchored to the arm 83of the carriage 82; the band can be unwound from the spool 101 andfollow the displacements of the carriag 82 along the guiding slot 91.

The receiving pocket 76 (FIG. 4) is similar to pocket 74 and includes ahorizontal collecting platform 102 which slides along shaft 103; theplatform is controlled by bi-directional'motor 104 which acts throughbelt 106.

Pocket 76 includes collecting carriage 107 having positioning arm 113which serves as an end-of-travel stop of the collected documents; thecarriage 107 further includes a-rocking arm 108 which carries twopulleys 109 and 111 which continuously rotate belt 112. The belt stacksthe documents shifted into the receiving pocket 76 by accompanying andholding them against travel limitator 113. The construction details arethe same as those of pocket 74.

The longitudinal dimension of receiving pocket 76 is hand adjustable tocorrespond tothe documents processed by virtue of the fact thatcollecting carriage 107 is slidable along a guiding slot 116; by thismeans the position of the stop arm 113 is modified.

Located between the deflector 72 and the receiving pocket 76 are twoguides 127 and 128 which are parallel each other and perpendicular tothe base plate 15; these guides define the path of the documents whichare sent to pocket 76. A set of rollers and counter rollers provide thefeeding means for the documents along this portion of the path.

Motor 129 drives pulleys 109 and 111 by means of belt '131; the motoralso drives pulleys 84 and 86 (carriage 82, FIG. 3) through a belt notshown in the drawmgs. v I i The adjustable displacements of carriages 82and 107 along slots 91 and 116 are controlled by the rotation of knob132 which is connected toa slide 134 by means of belt 133. The slide isintegral with carriage 107 and slides on shaft 136; carriage 107 isconnected to the other carriage 82 by a rigid bar which is locatedbehind the plate 15 and not depicted in the figures. Thisinterconnection causes carriage 82 to move when carriage 107 is moved. Agraduated scale 137 is carried on the plate 15 parallel to slot 116.Pointer 138, which is integral to the carriage 107, indicates thedisplacement of the carriages 82 and 107.

Knob 132 also controls a potentiometer 140 (located behind plate 15)which regulates the speed of the stripping motor 34 (FIG. 1). This willbe hereinafter discussed. v

The operation of the device is as follows. The platforms 18 (FIG. 1), 77(FIG. 3), and 102 (FIG. 4), are lowered to the end-of-travel position bythe motors which are controlled by the photoelectric system 29, 30 (FIG.1). The absence of documents on the loading platform 18 signals that theplatforms are to be lowered.

The presence of documents in the loading station is signalled by thephotoelectric system 29, 30 (FIG. 1). This system, together with lugs 92and 117 of carriages 82 and 107 (FIGS. 3 and 4) activate the controlswitches 93 and 118 which, in turn, cause the lifting of platforms 77and 102 (FIGS. 3 and 4).

The operator observes the length of the documents 11 (FIG. 1) on scale18 and sets the pointer 138 (FIG. 4) to this length, thereby settingcollecting pockets 74 and 76 to the proper length.

The separating device 12 (FIG. 1) can be adjusted so as to allow aconstant interspace between documents even if operating with documentsof varying lengths. When short documents are processed (for example 50mm), the collecting carriages 82 and 107 (FIGS. 3 and 4) are displacedto the left by knob 132 (FIG. 4). It will be recalled that knob 132 alsocontrols a potentiometer 140; this potentiometer is connected to themotor 34 (FIG. 1) in a well known manner to control the motor speed. Theseparating device will be set to run at a peripheral speed of 1.5meters/sec. and if the speed of rollers 54 is equal to 3 meters/sec. thespeed of each document is accelerated until double during the flow fromaccelerating station to reading station. The space between subsequentdocuments will be equal to the length of the documents themselves.

When long documents are processed (for instance 220 mm), the collectingcarriages 82 and 107 are displaced by the knob 132 toward the right handend of the slots 91 and'l16 (FIGS. 3 and 4). The knob 132 sets thepotentiometer 140 to increase the speed of the motor 34; for longdocuments the roller 32 will rotate at a peripheral rate of, forexample, 2.45 meters a second. Each document will go through theconstant peripheral speed of the accelerating rollers 54 (which is equalto 3 meters/sec.) to be accelerated to a speed of 3/2.45 times theseparating speed.

The leading edge of each long document is'separated from the subsequentdocument by a distance equal to 270 mm; that is, the interspace betweena. document and the subsequent one is approximately 50 mm, the same aswas the case for shorter documents.

However, when an intermediate separating speed is chosen also bundles ofmixed documents having a length difference up to mm may be processed.

When the photoelectric device 29, 30 (FIG. 1) starts the motor 34, italso starts the motor 23 (FIG. 1), which, by means of belt 24 liftsloading platform 18 upwards until the document at the top of the bundlecontacts the stripping belt 36. The belt 36 circulates and feeds thedocument 11 to roller 32.

As previously discussed, located in the initial portion of the feed pathis the rejection roller 51; the coeflicient of friction between theseparating roller 32 and the document 11 is greater than the coefficientof friction between the document and the rejection roller 51. Thecoefficient of friction between two documents is less than that ofdocument and roller 51. The roller 51 rotates the reverse direction withrespect to the moving document and insures the passage of but a singledocument.

So, if two documents are lifted by the stripping belt 36 at the sametime, since the coefficient of friction between the two documents isless than the coefficient of friction between the document and theroller 51, the

roller will grip the lower surface of the second document and prevent itfrom being fed with the first one.

The upward displacement of the platform 31 (FIG. 1) will continue untilthe force exerted by the documents l1 overcomes the urge of the spring43 and causes tension lever 39 to bring lug 48 into contact with plungerof the switch 49 thereby activating it. This activation stops motor 23.

The loading platform 18 ceases to move but belt 36 continues to separatedocuments from the top of the pile. The pressure between the belt andthe documents is maintained by the lever 39 which is urged by the spring43. After a sufficient number of documents 11 is separated, the lug 48is removed from microswitch 49 since the lever 39 has movedcounterclockwise by the urge of the spring 43; consequently, the motor23 starts rotating again and a new upward displacement of the platform18 commences. Therefore, the loading motor 23 continuouslyre-establishes a constant thrust of the documemts 11 against thestripping belt 36.

When all the documents of the stack are removed, the'light source 29 andphototransistor 31 signal the backward rotation of motor 23, bringingplatform 18 to the lowered position.

-When the documents leave the separation device 12, they are shiftedtoward the reading station 14 by rollers 60,54,70 and the counterrollers 59; the rollers 54 are inclined with respect to the feed path,and they accelerate and aline the documents. The alining is accomplishedby bringing the documents into contact with the fixed reference planeprovided by the base plate 15.

The documents are alined, accelerated and passed to drum 62 and belt 63;the documents are passed to the reading station 14, where the reading iscarried out by magnetic or optical heads.

After the documents are read they are conveyed toward the collectingpockets 74 and 76 (FIGS. 3 and 4).

The deflector 72, which is suitably controlled by the command of asorting electronic control unit, causes the documents to be directed toeither pocket 74 or 76'.

As has been previously stated, photoelectric device 29, 30 (FIG. 1)signals not only motor 23, but also motors 79 (FIG. 3) and 104 (FIG. 4)thereby causing the lifting of platforms 77 and 102.

The upward displacement of the loading platforms 77 and 102continues'until they contact the collecting carriages 82 and 107. Theupward displacement stops when the microswitches 93 and 118 areinactivated by the lugs 92 and 117 being raised under the thrust of theplatforms.

The stop arms 88 and 113 fit into holes in the platforms 77 and 107 soas not to interfere with the platforms.

When the deflector 72 routes the documents into the mainpocket 74(position shown in FIG. 3 by a broken line) the single documents leavethe guides 69 and 71 and pass beneath the barrel shaped rollers 96 and97 which are kept in rotation. As has been pointed out the shape of suchrollers renders the documents curved before they are collected.

The documents fed by rollers 96 and 97 are guided by the plate 98 and bythe band 99 toward the collecting carriage 82. The belt 87 circulatescontinuously and pushes the documents against the damping flat spring 25of the stop member 88. Belt 87, contacting the documents before'theyleave the roller 97, insures a good document stacking operation.

The documents are stacked between the platform 77 The operation of thecollecting pocket 76 (FIG. 4) is the same as that of pocket 74 (FIG. 3).

What we claim is: 1. In a device for separating documents from a stack,

passing the documents through a reader, and restacking the documents,the combination comprising a removing station for individuallyseparating the documents and passing them toward a reading station;

a station for re-stacking the documents after they leave the readingstation;

the removing station including a vertically movable platform upon whichthe documents lie, a moving belt for gripping the top document by meansof friction and thrusting it away from the first station,

a motor for moving the platform so that the documents contact the belt,movable means for applying pressure to the inner surface of the belt tohold the belt taut, the pressure applying means being 10- cated abovethe documents to be stripped with the moving belt between the documentsand the pressure applying means, a motor control switch fixed adjacentto the pressure applying means for stopping the motor and the upwardmovement of the platform when the movable pressure applying means hasbeen moved upward by the upward moving documents carried by the upwardmoving platform. 1 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein thepressure applying means includes a lever having a roller for contactingthe inner surface of the belt on one end thereof and a spring affixedbetween the other end thereof and a fixed point, the spring urging theroller against the inner surface of the belt.

3. The device according to claim 1, wherein the restacking stationincludes a second movable platform, controlled by a second motor, foraccepting the documents, the re-stacking station including a secondmoving belt mounted on a frame, which frame can rotate about a fulcrumpoint, the frame including a stop bar which limits the horizontal travelof the documents as they enter the re-stacking station, at least onerestacking control switch, mounted adjacent themovable frame, forcontrolling the second motor and thereby controlling the movement of thesecond platform, the documents being urged toward the stop bar by thesecond moving belt and being stacked on the second platform which isbelow the stop bar, the stack of documents between the frame and thesecond platform forcing the frame to move away from the second platformand contact the re-stacking control switch which activates the secondmotor to lower the second platform until the frame returns from saidre-stacking control switch.

4. The device according-to claim 3, wherein there are a plurality ofbarrel-shaped rollers between the reading station and the re-stackingstation for bending the documents so as to stiffen them.

5. The device according to claim 3, wherein the speed of the moving beltin the removing station is controlled by a third motor which is in turncontrolled by I a potentiometer, the potentiometer being connected to acontrol mechanism for adjusting the horizontal position of said stop barso that the stop bar position will accommodate the length of documentsbeing read, the adjustment of said stop bar by said control mechanismadjusting also the potentiometer which controls the speed of the thirdmotor which controls the speed of the moving belt in the removingstation. I

6. The device according to claim 3, wherein the stop bar has a springplaced between the bar and the incoming documents.

a r s a a

1. In a device for separating documents from a stack, passing thedocuments through a reader, and re-stacking the documents, thecombination comprising a removing station for individually separatingthe documents and passing them toward a reading station; a station forre-stacking the documents after they leave the reading station; theremoving station including a vertically movable platform upon which thedocuments lie, a moving belt for gripping the top document by means offriction and thrusting it away from the first station, a motor formoving the platform so that the documents contact the belt, movablemeans for applying pressure to the inner surface of the belt to hold thebelt taut, the pressure applying means being located above the documentsto be stripped with the moving belt between the documents and thepressure applying means, a motor control switch fixed adjacent to thepressure applying means for stopping the motor and the upward movementof the platform when the movable pressure applying means has been movedupward by the upward moving documents carried by the upward movingplatform.
 2. The device according to claim 1, wherein the pressureapplying means includes a lever having a roller for contacting the innersurface of the belt on one end thereof and a spring affixed between theother end thereof and a fixed point, the spring urging the rolleragainst the inner surface of the belt.
 3. The device according to claim1, wherein the re-stacking station includes a second movable platform,controlled by a second motor, for accepting the documents, there-stacking station including a second moving belt mounted on a frame,which frame can rotate about a fulcrum point, the frame including a stopbar which limits the horizontal travel of the documents as they enterthe re-stacking station, at least one re-stacking control switch,mounted adjacent the movable frame, for controlling the second motor andthereby controlling the movement of the second platform, the documentsbeing urged toward the stop bar by the second moving belt and beingstacked on the second platform which is below the stop bar, the stack ofdocuments between the frame and the second platform forcing the frame tomove away from the second platform and contact the re-stacking controlswitch which activates the second motor to lower the second platformuntil the frame returns from said re-stacking control switch.
 4. Thedevice according to claim 3, wherein there are A plurality ofbarrel-shaped rollers between the reading station and the re-stackingstation for bending the documents so as to stiffen them.
 5. The deviceaccording to claim 3, wherein the speed of the moving belt in theremoving station is controlled by a third motor which is in turncontrolled by a potentiometer, the potentiometer being connected to acontrol mechanism for adjusting the horizontal position of said stop barso that the stop bar position will accommodate the length of documentsbeing read, the adjustment of said stop bar by said control mechanismadjusting also the potentiometer which controls the speed of the thirdmotor which controls the speed of the moving belt in the removingstation.
 6. The device according to claim 3, wherein the stop bar has aspring placed between the bar and the incoming documents.